My U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,271 which issued on Sep. 10, 1991 relates to a rear-mounted snow plow apparatus adapted for plowing near a permanent structure, or the like. This apparatus includes a plow, a plow supporting means and a plow elevating mechanism for raising and lowering the plow. A hydraulic subsystem is included for operating the elevating mechanism.
The plow apparatus of my U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,271 is believed to be a significant and useful advance in the snow plow art. The elevating mechanism and its associated hydraulic subsystem are particularly effective. However, certain features of this plow apparatus need to be improved to achieve an even more satisfactory and reliable structure.
For example, I have discovered that an improved plow position adjustment means is needed because, under certain operating conditions, greater and more reliable plow adjustability is needed. Also, the plow pulling arms can sometimes become broken away from the plow blade under certain conditions involving applied shear force, including the sudden application of impact force against the blade during use.
Further, because of certain spatial orientations that the plow blade can assume in certain use conditions, the ground-engaging edge thereof can experience wear or edge damage through contact with stones or the like. Still further, the snow plow apparatus needs to be simply and readily associatable with a vehicle hitch without having to make time consuming, awkwardly located interconnections between the plow pulling arms and the vehicle hitch.
These potential disadvantages need to be overcome without basic alteration of the plow elevating mechanism including its associated hydraulic subsystem.
The present invention overcomes all of these disadvantages while retaining the basic plow elevating mechanism.